Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola participate in a debate in Anchorage, Alaska, US, Oct. 15, 2026.
Kerry Tasker | Reuters
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into whether the alleged recruitment of a candidate named Dan Sullivan for the state’s U.S. Senate race, where the incumbent shares the same name, violated criminal or civil laws.
Dunleavy’s order late Wednesday was in response to a report by The New York Times Wednesday that people in the campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola and senior advisors at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee worked to recruit retired schoolteacher Dan Sullivan to run to draw votes from Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The incumbent senator, like Dunleavy, is a Republican.
Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC, in response to the Times article, said they are not involved in the campaign of the retired teacher Sullivan.
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The governor’s order came as a federal judge in Alaska allowed Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC to intervene in a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to block the state from immediately certifying any Senate election result “that may be impacted by voter confusion … pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”
The campaign, the DSCC and state election officials have asked Judge Sharon Gleason to dismiss that lawsuit before Election Day, Nov. 3.
President Donald Trump has said he ordered the DOJ to file the suit.
The political stakes in the Alaska Senate race are potentially momentous. The winner of the contest could determine the balance of power in the Senate, where Republicans hold a six-vote majority.
Dunleavy, in announcing his order, noted that Alaska’s Division of Elections had investigated concerns that the retired teacher’s entry into the Senate primary was designed to confuse voters, which led the division to block him from that ballot. A state court judge reversed that order, and the Alaska Supreme Court upheld that ruling, allowing him on the ballot.
“The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings,” Dunleavy said in a post on X.
“I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted,” Dunleavy said. “The evidence will determine what happens next.”
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy looks on as U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks at a campaign rally attended by Vice President JD Vance at Fairbanks International Airport on Oct. 5, 2026 in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Jacquelyn Martin | Getty Images
“Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support,” he said. “Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.
Peltola’s campaign, in a statement to CNBC on Thursday in response to Dunleavy’s announcement, said, “Mary got in this race because Alaskans deserve a champion who is fighting to lower their costs and put Alaska first, and no tweet or threat from any politician will keep her away from that fight. The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.”
Gleason late Wednesday ordered the DOJ to respond by late Thursday afternoon to motions to dismiss its lawsuit by Peltola’s campaign, the DSCC, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and the advocacy group Common Cause, whom the judge also had allowed to intervene in the case.
Gleason said those groups needed to file any response to the DOJ’s response by early Friday afternoon.
Dan J. Sullivan, a candidate in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race who shares his name with the incumbent seeking reelection, talks with a reporter, July 3, 2026, in Petersburg, Alaska.
Becky Bohrer | AP
Trump, before flying to South Carolina for a campaign rally Thursday morning, was asked by a reporter whether Republicans in the Senate should try to block Peltola from taking the seat in January if she wins Tuesday’s election.
“Well, you’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said.
“It’s hard to believe that she can even be allowed to run. Frankly, I don’t know how you can allow somebody like that to run,” the president said.
Trump said the retired teacher Sullivan “was just put there as a fraud.”
“But people aren’t going to know that, so nobody’s going to know what to do,” Trump said.
Both Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC have argued that Trump and other Republicans are being hypocritical in their claims about the Senate race.
“Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns – including recruiting a prisoner with a New York address to run against Mary Peltola and spending nearly half a million dollars to secure a spot on the ballot in Alaska for an Arizona resident in the Senate race this cycle,” a DSCC spokesperson said Wednesday.
The DSCC pointed to instances of Republicans promoting third-party and dark horse candidates in the current election cycle and past ones to increase chances of a GOP candidate winning a race.
Alaska elections officials in a court filing have said the Division of Elections “has taken significant steps to distinguish” between the two Sullivans on the ballot, “so that voters can easily determine which candidate is which.”
The retired teacher’s name on the ballot is spelled out “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.” with no other words next to it.
Directly below his name, Sen. Sullivan is listed as “Sullivan, Dan. S.” with the words “Registered Republican, incumbent” next to his name in parentheses.
Alaska elections officials said in their court filing that “the United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate.”